Neko-Chan
by 1793BREACH
Summary: Orihara Izaya comes across a stray cat who helps Izaya discover certain things about himself.
1. Chapter 1

Orihara Izaya stalked down the street, half in the shadows, desperately cold but not wanting to show it. He coughed involuntarily and scowled.

"God, I hate winter…"

He muttered to himself sourly as he slipped down an alley to escape the glances he received from others on the street.

As he reached a secluded area, he gave into his desires and began miserably shivering, wrapping his arms around himself in a futile attempt to increase his body temperature.

There was a crash a little farther down the alley but he ignored it.

Then, a sleek black cat padded over to him from the direction of the crash.

"Shoo, feline," Izaya hissed.

The cat looked up at him, his eyes sharp and bright, as though challenging him.

Izaya sighed heavily. "I said go away."

The cat, in reply, crept towards Izaya and huddled against his legs.

Izaya rolled his eyes and knelt down. He untangled his arms to wave the cat away.

The cat, seizing the opportunity, jumped into Izaya's arms and nestled into his jacket.

Izaya gritted his teeth but didn't object—the cat was quite warm.

He sat on the cold, hard ground with the cat in his arms for a few minutes, silent.

The cat started purring and the vibrations eased through Izaya's body.

Izaya sighed, again. "Hey, cat. Do you have an owner? A human who serves you under the illusion that you serve them?"

The cat squirmed.

Izaya furrowed his brow. "Do you have a home?"

The cat poked its head out from Izaya's jacket and stared at Izaya. The gaze was blank but rich: a depth that was a murky mixture of emotions and experiences. It was almost reminiscent of something you would see in the eyes of a human.

Izaya thought for a moment. "Are you a stray? A lost cause? An entity born and raised independent but helplessly lonely? Bound to the shadows and convinced you live for danger, when you're really just suspended in it with no hope of escape?"

The cat blinked at him.

"Is that what you are?"

The cat rested its chin on Izaya's chest, and Izaya could feel its heartbeat pulsing in sync with his own.

"Is that it, cat? Are you lonely?"

The cat nuzzled Izaya fondly.

"Are you like the feline version of everything I am and will be?"

"Because I'm sort of a stray, myself. I didn't mind it, at first, I thought it was sort of exciting as a lifestyle. But now... it's really just lonely for me. Just like you seem to be."

The cat didn't react.

"Since you'll probably die in solitude out on the streets or in a catfight or get hit by a car, does that mean I'll die like that, too? I'll die pointlessly, forgotten?"

His expression turned sad, and he rubbed the cat's ears.

"Is that our fate?"

A siren pierced the air and startled both Izaya and the cat.

Izaya looked up and blinked.

A sudden wave of realization dawned over him. "What, am I crazy? I'm talking to a f***ing cat."

He stood up abruptly, throwing the cat off of him, and took off. "What the Hell was I thinking?"

He didn't really know where he was going, he was just heading in some random direction, but he ended up on a bench in some sort of square. He laid down on the bench and exhaled, his breath turning white.

"Why does it have to be so cold..?" he uttered.

He sat there for nearly half an hour.

He then got up and resorted to returning home.

He stumbled into his room and out onto the balcony, leaning over the railing, weak and fatigued.

He gasped for air and let the snow that was now falling sprinkle his face.

It felt good.

"Neko-chan!"

Izaya looked down, directly below the balcony and inhaled sharply.

Heiwajima Shizuo was walking through the snow, searching for something, looking under benches and behind signs. "Neko-chan, where are you?" he called.

"What's he doing in this weather? It's snowing for God's sake," Izaya mumbled to himself, watching Shizuo.

Shizuo looked around and sighed.

Suddenly, a black cat ran up to him from behind.

It was the same black cat from before.

Shizuo turned and noticed the cat.

He knelt down and lifted the cat. "Neko-chan!"

Izaya's breath caught in his throat.

Shizuo embraced the cat and placed the cat on his shoulder. "I thought I'd never find you. You have to stop running off, especially in such cold conditions."

Shizuo was smiling affectionately at the cat, and the cat was rubbing against him. For a second, Izaya thought the cat had looked up to the balcony and given him a pointful glance.

After their light-hearted reunion, they walked off into the distance and Izaya stared after them.

He then allowed a small smile to form, but hid it with his hand.

"So is that it, then?"

He retreated into the warmth of his room and fell onto his bed.

"If I keep 'running off'… does that mean I'm only as lonely as I choose to be? There's always someone waiting for me at home, should I ever return? Someone willing to take me in despite every mistake I may have made?"

He closed his eyes.

"Psh."

A reluctant tear rolled down his cheek.

"Of course not. No one's waiting for me."

His lips curled into a pained smile.

"I knew it was stupid to talk to cats."


	2. Chapter 2

Izaya rolled over in bed and a chill ran down his body.

He rubbed his eyes and blinked, then pulled the blanket a little farther over him.

He continued to shiver, though, and he sat up, wondering why in frustration.

As he surveyed the room, he glanced at his balcony and jerked.

He had left the doors open.

He cursed himself and stumbled over, slamming the doors shut and sneezing violently.

He blew his nose and moaned, slipping back into bed and under the covers.

He was just about to doze off when a weight threw itself upon his chest.

He sat up in shock and blinked.

The stray cat—no, Shizuo's cat—was on top of him, staring at him curiously.

"WHAT THE F***?!" he yelped, starting.

The cat crawled up his chest and licked Izaya's nose.

"Stop it! Get off me!"

The cat, instead of obeying, curled up below his chin and refused to budge.

Izaya straightened and grabbed the cat. He got out of bed and dropped the cat on the ground, glaring at it. "What are you doing here? How did you..?"

He looked back at the doors to the balcony and sighed.

The cat looked up at him earnestly.

"Don't look at me like that. You've made me upset," Izaya accused, making his way into the kitchen.

The cat followed him.

As he was pouring himself a glass of chilled water, the cat rubbed up against his ankles pointfully.

He scowled and shot the cat a dirty look, but continued to ignore the cat.

After a couple seconds, the cat began mewing.

Izaya gritted his teeth and sipped his water.

"Ow!"

The cat sank his teeth into Izaya's leg and Izaya resisted the urge to kick it. He bent down and grasped the cat by the scruff of its neck. "Okay. If you don't want me to throw you out onto the street to die, I'm going to have to set some rules, here. Number one: no biting, nipping, or otherwise having your teeth make contact with my skin. Number two: no sitting on me while I'm trying to sleep. And number three: no licking of any sort."

The cat just stared at him.

Izaya stared back.

It mewed again, louder.

"What do you want?"

The mewing continued.

Izaya inhaled deeply and opened his refrigerator, taking out a dish of fatty tuna. "Do you want food? Is that it?"

The cat leapt at him and whipped its tail around violently.

Izaya rolled his eyes and unwrapped the tuna, placing a portion onto a small plate and placing it on the floor.

The cat attacked it hungrily.

Izaya furrowed his brow in concern. "Does Shizu-chan not feed you enough?"

The cat didn't respond in any way.

Not that Izaya expected it to, of course.

He watched the cat eat with mild interest.

Once the cat had finished, it lifted its head and sniffed the air, then darted out of the room.

Izaya jogged after it. "Wait! Where are you going?"

The cat was pawing at his door, mewing again.

Izaya just stared at it.

The cat then dug its nails into the door, leaving gashes in the wood.

"Hey!"

Izaya slipped into a pair of shoes hastily and threw on his coat, opening the door and sprinting after the cat.

The cat darted down and out of the building, rounding a corner.

Izaya slid around the bend and halted suddenly.

The cat walked calmly up to a tall, blonde man and jumped into his arms.

Shizuo stared at Izaya strangely.

He then frowned in anger. "Izaya…" he growled.

Izaya backed away. "Um… I… your cat… he was… he found his way into my place, so…" he stammered, breaking off.

Shizuo's expression turned to surprise. "Wh… what?"

"I… yeah. He… I fed him some fish, and…"

"You fed him?"

"Um. Yeah. He's yours, right?"

Shizuo nodded slowly. "But he doesn't like strangers."

Izaya shrugged. "I don't know. Glad he made his way back to you, though. Later." He moved to walk away.

"Hold on, Izaya."

Izaya stopped.

"Is what you're telling me the truth?"

"Well, yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

"As if you didn't know. You're a notorious liar."

Izaya looked down at the ground, his expression darkening. "So it appears, yes."

"Then… thanks. For not kicking him out."

"It was no problem, really." Izaya gulped, still avoiding eye contact.

"Seriously, though. I appreciate it."

Izaya forced a sly grin. "Well isn't that a first? Heiwajima Shizuo is grateful to the infamous Orihara Izaya."

Shizuo's gaze also lowered, his expression suddenly difficult to read. "I… suppose. I mean… I do typically take care of him, since he has no one else, usually, so…"

Izaya continued to fake a smirk. "This is quite the twist, I wouldn't have thought you were capable of such compassion, you violent and aggressive man, you."

Shizuo's face began to cloud with hurt. "I… guess so…"

He hugged the cat a little tighter, biting his lip.

Izaya laughed liltingly, choking it out to feign confidence. "After all, you really are heartless."

Shizuo turned away. "Thanks for taking care of Neko-chan," was all he said before taking leave, his strides long and rushed, as though eager to get away from Izaya.

Izaya watched his retreating figure. His phony grin melted away and he bit back his ragged breaths. Shizuo heartless? Izaya was the heartless one, calling him such things in order to reassure himself of his own power. Disowning others for the sake of his own consolation.

His thoughts drifted back to the cat.

He had fed it, it was true.

He almost smiled in relief, that he wasn't as uncaring as he thought, but then he realized that he had done that only to stop the cat from bugging him.

So he really was that callous.

This bothered him considerably, more than it usually did, and images of Shizuo's broken expression flitted through his mind.

It felt like his life had begun to fall apart at the seams ever since that cat appeared. Before that, he had been perfectly fine with everything, never really seriously questioning himself and his actions.

So why now?


End file.
